Published at 22nd of January 2024 12:05 pm

Chapter 296: The World Isn't Kind Enough to Verify Delusional Daydreams

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

“Uwoh!? T-t-t-t”

Having safely returned to the <White World> I stumbled a few steps. Suddenly being thrown from a shaking place to a calm one, my body and consciousness couldn’t catch up.

However, I’m not so dull as to fall disgracefully because of that. If I look to the side, I can see that Tia was standing normally… but her face is looking around restlessly.

“I’m glad, this place isn’t shaking.”

“Well, of course. We’re in a different world altogether.”

Even though we’re moving in an instant, each different world and this <White World> are completely separate. Therefore, there’s no way the shaking could spread… but that doesn’t mean our worries have disappeared.

“I wonder if Burn and Euralia are okay?”

“Uhm, that’s hard to say…”

I reply with a troubled face to Tia, who changes from a relieved expression to a worried one. I’m concerned about that too, but since we can never go back to a world we’ve been expelled from, our means of confirming it are extremely limited.

The most reliable way to verify would be to complete our journey through the different worlds and use the “Golden Key,” which we should receive as a reward. However, as Tia mentioned earlier, we haven’t even finished 20% of our journey through the different worlds. It’s too early to talk about that now, and we don’t even know for sure if we’ll get the key, so it’s not realistic.

Moreover, breaking through the world’s barrier and forcibly going back is obviously out of the question. It would take significant preparation and bear a great risk, and we still wouldn’t know if it’s possible. Just because we’re a little worried about an acquaintance doesn’t mean we can do it. Besides, since the Silver Winged Sword, the key to world travel, is gone, we don’t even know how to cross the barrier between worlds. In that case…

“Why don’t we read that for now? If we’re lucky, it might have something written about the earthquake.”

I said that and turned my gaze to a book placed on the table. It’s the most convenient means for us to learn about the fate of the world we were banished from.

“Yes, let’s read it right away?”

“Understood.”

Urged by Tia, I sit at the table and open the book. It’s written about Burn’s life as always, but much of it is the same as what I read in the beginning of the third round, and Tia seems impatient, so we read through at a slightly faster pace… and then, at last.

— 015th World, {Record Of The Hero’s Story}, Final Chapter

Thus, the hero Burn, who defeated the Demon King, faced a fierce battle, and half of his comrades never returned from the battlefield. Hero Burn didn’t speak much about it, and the saintess who had been traveling with him all along ― Zaa―Zazaa―

“Huh? What?”

While reading, the words in the book start to blur and disappear. At the same time, a great shock hit my body.

“Uwoh!?”

“Kyaa!?”

The world was shaking. That alone would be the same as earlier, but the meaning is fundamentally different.

In a normal world, an earthquake is a common natural phenomenon, though rare. Many explanations exist for why the ground shakes, from avalanches and landslides caused by heavy rain to volcanic activity or even demonic beasts burrowing underground.

But none of that exists in this world. In fact, everything in this world is so sturdy that it can’t be broken no matter what.

Despite that, it’s shaking here. If it’s not something breaking or collapsing but shaking, then…

(Is the world itself shaking!? What is that, what’s going on!?)

A phenomenon that can only be described as the box of the world itself shaking… but that doesn’t mean we can do anything about it. We just endured, and fortunately, the shaking stopped in about 30 seconds.

“Damn, what the hell was that…”

“Ed! Look! Look at that!”

“What’s wrong, Tia? That… Haa!?”

Urged by Tia’s panicked voice, I turn my gaze, and the countless doors to different worlds and the walls they were attached to melt away and disappear before my eyes.

“No, no, no, no!? Seriously!? What’s that!?”

I immediately stood up and headed towards the door. But in that instant, both the walls and the door were completely gone, leaving nothing behind.

“What’s going on, Ed!? The doors are all gone!”

“I don’t know either! Phew… Let’s calm down first.”

I inadvertently raised my voice, but took a deep breath to calm myself with each exhalation. After all, I just escaped from a crisis. Compared to being thrown into the third round, leaving behind my memories, powers, and my partner, this is nothing… Okay, I’ve calmed down.

So, first, I need to figure out what happened. Tracing back through the unusual things that happened, the beginning was… Was it the world where I was just banished?

The earthquake I felt then. I thought it was just a normal natural phenomenon… A localized one. But what if it shook the whole world? Then that would explain why this <White World> was shaken.

So, in the truest sense, the whole world shook… Including the 100 different worlds and this <White World> the box that’s imprisoning me?

So, what does the disappearance of the doors mean? Following the logic, it means the connection between this <White World> and the other worlds has been severed. Is it simply disconnected? Or could it be…

“…All broken?”

I shake my head with all my might at the terrifying premonition that crossed my mind. No, no matter how you look at it… Is that possible?

This <White World> is a special construct in every sense. The white material around it doesn’t scratch no matter what, and the fact that our bodies revert to their initial registered state means there’s likely a powerful restoration or preservation force embedded in it.

Hence, this world didn’t break. But can the regular different worlds withstand a shock that shakes such a world? If they can’t… They would collapse…

“…D! Ed!”

“…!? Tia? What’s wrong?”

Shaken forcefully by the shoulder, I turn to the side in surprise. There’s Tia’s face, looking at me with an anxious expression, and just seeing it calms my unsettled heart a bit.

“What do you mean, ‘what’s wrong’? I’ve been calling you for a while now!”

“Really? Sorry… So, what’s up?”

“It’s that thing!”

“That…?”

Once again, I turn my head to the side, only to find a new door standing alone.

“A door!? Has the connection been restored!?”

“I don’t know. It’s only one door, and the place is…”

“The place? Ah, that’s…”

The door appeared where the first world was. Just one door reappeared in the place of the very first world. The expectation derived from that makes me grimace.

“Eh, could it be that? Do we have to start over again?”

“Eh? The shaking earlier, was that what it meant!?”

“I don’t know, but… Given the situation, I think that’s the closest possibility.”

The idea that perhaps the worlds were resetting every time I died, causing a shake, crossed my mind. If so, while the nullification of all my previous efforts would be vexing, my mental burden would be relieved.

Of course, that’s understandable. It’s not an irregular situation where the worlds are breaking, but a routine event that’s happened thousands, millions, or billions of times. There’s nothing to worry about.

Well, the question of why it happened while I was alive and active does arise… I pushed myself a lot to reunite with Tia, so if it’s called a backlash, it’s more than convincing.

“Ah…………”

“What? Did you figure something out?”

“I layered a guess on top of a guess, like a delusion or imagination… I kind of figured out what it might be.”

“What, what? What do you mean?”

“To put it very simply, maybe we were made to pay the price for reuniting when we were supposed to be separated, Ed and Tia? Maybe because we cheated and went back, we have to start over from the beginning?”

“It can’t be helped, I suppose.”

“Yeah, nothing we can do about it.”

To continue traveling while forever parted from Tia, or to start over from the beginning in exchange for a reunion with her. If I were told to choose between the two, I would unhesitatingly choose to reunite and start over.

This is a risk I must accept. Since the return is immense, I should rather be celebrating that I got away with a mere rewind of a few decades; complaining would only make me look ungrateful.

“Whoa, looking closer, even the {Record Of The Hero’s Story} I’ve had so far have all vanished. This really looks like the real deal.”

Glancing back with sudden curiosity, all the {Record Of The Hero’s Story} including the one I’d left open on the table, are gone from the shelf. The restart theory is getting stronger, but… is it really?

“Mmm. It’s sad that all our hard work has been erased, but if I think about being able to travel with Alexis and the others again… wait! But what about my existence in that case?”

“Who knows? If you move with me, I guess you’ll be treated as if you weren’t there from the start?”

“I see… Oh! In that case, I wonder if I can meet Rouge-chan again?”

“Yeah. Since Rouge was a party member when I met up with Alexis and the others, I think that if it’s a world without you, Rouge will probably be part of the group again.”

“That’s a little exciting! Come on, Ed, let’s go quickly!”

“You sure switch gears fast! Alright, let’s go now.”

With a wry smile at Tia, who suddenly became excited, I stood in front of the only door and reached for the knob. It turned without resistance, and we were able to successfully step into another world, but…

“…Huh?”

What spread out before us was, for some reason, a fiercely devastated world.

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